Thumper Club Forum
Club House => Chatter => Topic started by: guest18 on May 29, 2008, 06:20:55 PM
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Just a thought, as the manufacturers refuse to admit the fuel consumption of their products, and journalistic figures seem to be either a grandad who does 27mph everywhere or an idiot who has the engine on the limiter every second it's running I wondered if we, as a club, could produce a table or "real" measured fuel consumption figures? Ok we will not achieve a proper double blind test, but we can establish some real world expectations for a given bike...
So I'll kick off, with three suggested figures,
Worst case: measured over a full tank to reserve, using the tripmeter for mileage and the petrol pump for quantity of fuel, the worst "economy" you can ever remember getting from your bike. Indicative of full throttle heavily loaded and probably speeds you only obtained on a private road officer.
Average: What you normally get on the daily commute, ideally a mix of traffic and open road but realistically, your usual..
Best case: I had to do a tankful specially for this :o this is the best economy you can wring from your bike without lying on the tank and doing 55 everywhere... gentle acceleration, reduced top speed, just being as gentle as you possibly can and trying as hard as you can to get max mpg over at least one tankful.
So, as I said I'll kick off...
2002 MuZ Mastiff 660cc
Worst: 36 mpg
Average: 50 mpg
Best: 59 mpg
Over to you, oh and no "cheating"!! Get the calculator out and work it out *exactly*!! only then can we get a fair comparison. (and don't blame me if you get a fright ;) )
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Not an accurate reply.
When I attended Dent last years it was a round trip of 330 miles and I used £25-00 of petrol assuming £5 per gallon this works out as 65mpg.If I had been able to travel at a slower rate rather than 50mph I believe that would have had a fuel consumption in excess of 70mpg.Whilst the Norton is not fast it is cheap to run.
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Thanks for the reply Bruce, and yup, I know what you mean, the old British Iron seems to do particularly well on fuel, but then a decent run will always return better mileage than several stops and starts, using estimated figures the MuZ appeared to be managing nearly 70mpg on a run on the continent two up but in perfect weather and draughting trucks at 56mph... but estimated figures are always deceptive, now the average gallon is around £5.25, then, probably a bit less... I reckon your bike will be in the 60's but I bet if you measure it carefully you can't beat 70mpg... (there's a challenge! ;D )
It's always difficult to be accurate and having produced proper annual and whole life costings for bikes and cars most people are horrified when they do the sums properly, however many club members here will go through a couple of tanks in a week so it should be possible to get some useable real figures, certainly better than the usual available?
Maybe I should ask Steve to put up a table or a sticky...? ;)
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my cub 90 (almost a thumper) returned 130mpg on a commute across north london.
Probably about 30 sets of traffic lights each way and ringing its neck at every green light (necessary to stay alive).
Worst i saw was 122mpg.
Cbr600 best 58mpg, worst 38mpg (chasing/beating KTM 1000's), usually almost exactly 50mpg.
bullet350
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Dolly is averaging around 60mpg on our 52 mile commute. Best I've got was about 65mpg with the worst being the low 50's and that was SteveH's fault! Fully loaded and blasting it all the way to Dent last year.
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The CG125 I used as a town bike did 110 to 120 mpg getting it's neck wrung all day every day, no idea what it's capable used normally of as it was a despatch bike and the throttle only had two positions, on and off :-[ ::)
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Standard XBRs routinely get 50+mpg, but my outfit is piss poor at 35mpg, regardless of riding style. The only time it's better is on long slow motorway runs (55-60mph) when it does about 40mpg
GC
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MZ 301.
Worst - 35 mpg (thrashing it down the motorway to Devon trying to keep up with an XBR500) Never repeated (as bits vibrated off).
Average - 50 mpg
Best - 70 mpg (running in when new down the M4 to Carmarthen from London). Never repeated.
BMW R100S
Worst - 40 mpg
Average - 45 mpg
Best - 55 mpg.
Looking forward to seeing if the twin plugging improves matters as claimed.
Richard
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My first (and new) XBR used to get 70mpg on long runs. It never went below 60mpg. The current XBR does about 50mpg >:(
Best ever fuel consumption was on the old Suzuki GS125 .. averaged 110 miles to the gallon on a run from Edinburgh to London.
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Looking forward to seeing if the twin plugging improves matters as claimed.
Richard
I remember one old duffer claiming that twin plugging his boxer gave a return of nearly 70mpg. However, his was hitched to a chair and I think he may have been a little optimistic
GC
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One from memory:
1999 BMW F650
Worst: 41 mpg when ridden like a dispatch bike
Average: 69 mpg
Best: 94 mpg riding up Norway obeying the speed limits.
One that still haunts me:
Triumph Bonneville 790 outfit
Worst: 32 mpg in spray from **** and unable to get out of 4th gear due to the wind.
Average : 45 mpg
Best: 62 mpg, must have had a tail wind on the M-62
One that's useless:
BMW R1100R
Worst: 39 mpg : calculation error (see below)?
Avergage: 41 mpg
Best: 41 mpg
Shows how rubbish badly programmed FI moving a ton of Bavarian lard and trying to compete with a Japanese 4 can be.
Andy
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One from memory:
1999 BMW F650
Worst: 41 mpg when ridden like a dispatch bike
Average: 69 mpg
Best: 94 mpg riding up Norway obeying the speed limits.
Andy
Andy,was that one of the carbed Funduros or the later FI ones?
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:)
A few figures from my despatching days (when I used to calculate the mpg every time I filled the tank!)
Average mpg (but around 80% on m-ways & dual lane roads) & all bikes fully faired + luggage.
AVERAGE BEST
Honda CX500B 55
Honda CX500 Eurosport 58 69
Kawasaki GT550 60 68
Kawasaki GT750 (knackered!) (1 litre of oil every 200 miles!!!!!) (bit smokey!)
BMW R80 55
BMW K100 (2 valve) 50
BMW K100 RT " 48
BMW K100 Rs 55 62
Honda NTV 650 58 79 (honest?)
Honda Firestorm (current bike, no more despatching?) 32 ish? (ouch!) :-[
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Some figures of no use to anyone, but probably of interest:
DAF XF 480 Super Cab:
14mpg all the time (usually 56mph), trip computer could display 1mpg when accelerating from rest.
mine looked like this but with twin rear axles on the unit, and a refrigerated trailer (10 ton unladen!).
http://www.lkw-infos.net/images/themengalerien/showtrucks/nuerburgring-2004/teil-2/DAF-95-XF-480-Transit-100704-1.jpg (http://www.lkw-infos.net/images/themengalerien/showtrucks/nuerburgring-2004/teil-2/DAF-95-XF-480-Transit-100704-1.jpg)
I thought this was quite good, considering what some 4x4's get to the gallon.
bullet350
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Not a bike either....
Some time back I had a BMW 325SE and tried to keep the trip computer over 30mpg - not too hard. However the other fun bit was playing and keeping the MPG below 10 - had to drive like a plank in the lower gears, OR risk the license big time - but taught me a lot, then I hit some black ice and wrote it off. Not prating about it must be said mind.
used to expect the RD500 to hit reserve about 120 miles, got this below 100 on the IoM and up to 140 taking it really carefully - forgot wallet for a refill.
Triton had a 5 gal tank and this lasted about 4 years.. or so it seemed, mind Terry Hobbs (of Terry Hobbs fame) reconed that I was not riding it properly as he has big 7 gal tanks for his racing Tritons so they could do 2 or was it 3 laps of the IoM without stopping.
R
Not real mpgs.
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I rang Terry Hobbs up once for advice about a girlfriend's (Harris) Bonneville. Man could he chat! What an interesting bloke he was, sadly missed by the classic community.
At Stafford one year a seller had a Trumpy engine with Hobbs' name stamped on it. One viewer said "what's so good about that?" and everyone who heard him turned around and looked at him. It was politely explained that Mr Hobbs was a bit of a good tuner and the bloke went away looking bemused and ashamed in equal measure.
GC
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Yup - never went into his shop in Plymouth unless you had a good amount of time to blather on - oh and not at all if you were offended by ripe language...
Had a treasure trove of parts in the "shed" - wonder what happened to all of them?
He and Monty his right hand man were a great couple of people - hopefully Monty still is.
R
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One from memory:
1999 BMW F650
Worst: 41 mpg when ridden like a dispatch bike
Average: 69 mpg
Best: 94 mpg riding up Norway obeying the speed limits.
Andy
Andy,was that one of the carbed Funduros or the later FI ones?
Carbed. The FI ones are even better, you don't need to nurse the engine as much to get really good MPG's, which makes up for the stupid under seat fuel tank. It's a pity the water pump is so badly designed or I'd buy another tomorrow.
Andy
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MuZ traveller, av 320km/14litres,
Vmoto scoot..125cc av 160km/5l thrashing the b*&^%$d
Best with Suzuki T500 Titan outfit 50-55 mpg
Worst ever: Sukuki 500 Titan outfit 22 mpg
Best on a T20 (250)Suzuki using every trick in the book including angel gearing downhill and slipstreaming semi's, app 120 mpg. (had to, no money, middle of nowhere, Guesstimated about 1/2 pint left when arrived in Brisbane)
Freind: a club economy run back in the early 70's(winner) 84mpg two up on a T500 Titan. Club officials were present at fill up and refill over given distance. He was more surprised than the judges!!!
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Whats all this litres per 100 km stuff. I'm working late shifts and don't have the brain power. Help, I'm coming over all European..........
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I was having a giggle with a lass I know the other day - be nice to her she is (A) very tall, (B) an engineer and (C) works in a titanium machining company... (Andy did you ever sell that titanium you had?) Anyway she has given up converting litres to gallon or miles to Km and just does miles per 100L - seemed odd to me at first and then wholly sensible, even miles per litre would be more use than either Kms per 100L or MPG in the UK...
R
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Enfield Bullet 500: 14L in but keep forgetting the odemeter reading by the time I fill up. Just fitted a 22L tank so that forgetfulness is set to get worse. Thrapped she returns in excess of 60MPG....
Steffan
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Yeah, I do all my sums in miles per litre now. It makes sense, the pump says litres, the clock says miles. It's not hard to work it out :)
Multiplying by 4.5 gives a rough figure for MPG, but after a while you start appreciating the meaning of the MPL figure itself.
GC
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MPL? Works better than I thought. 10 MPL is 45 MPG, 9 MPL 50 MPG. Without getting into the hideous decimal points that metric usually requires, the scale isn't that course. I can do 45/50 MPG calcs in my head to calculate range and wouldn't bother trying to use 47 MPG in the same way I'd aproximate 9.6 MPL down to 9.
It still takes an Imperial unit to make things work for numbers in your head.
L/100KM is just wrong, it doesn't tell you anything unless you want to ride 100 km and walk afterwards!
Andy
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I don't understand how MPG becomes L/100KM which in reality is ml/KM - wierd!! and not KML which would be easy on the Bullet and the Skorpion as the odemeter is in KM and the forecourt pump in in L ...still could do with a trip meter. Perhaps its time to fit the bicycle computer with the new handlebars
Steffan
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MPL? Works better than I thought. 10 MPL is 45 MPG, 9 MPL 50 MPG. Without getting into the hideous decimal points that metric usually requires, the scale isn't that course. I can do 45/50 MPG calcs in my head to calculate range and wouldn't bother trying to use 47 MPG in the same way I'd aproximate 9.6 MPL down to 9.
It still takes an Imperial unit to make things work for numbers in your head.
L/100KM is just wrong, it doesn't tell you anything unless you want to ride 100 km and walk afterwards!
Andy
you want to read that back to yourself and try it again? 10mpl is 45mgp, 9mpl is 50mpg? fewer mpl makes more mpg? ;D ;D ;D
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My old pushrof Honda 50 got 175mpg at 45mph. My GB gets about 60 @ 65, the Yamaha XT130 gets about 70 @65, the Toyota Starlet Turbo gets 40 with a roof rack on.
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MPL? Works better than I thought. 10 MPL is 45 MPG, 9 MPL 50 MPG. Without getting into the hideous decimal points that metric usually requires, the scale isn't that course. I can do 45/50 MPG calcs in my head to calculate range and wouldn't bother trying to use 47 MPG in the same way I'd aproximate 9.6 MPL down to 9.
It still takes an Imperial unit to make things work for numbers in your head.
L/100KM is just wrong, it doesn't tell you anything unless you want to ride 100 km and walk afterwards!
Andy
Sorry, can't read my own fag packet ;D
10 mpl is 45 mpg, 11 mpl is 50 mpg, 9 mpl is 40 mpg. One on the MPL scale is near enough 5 on the MPG.
Andy
you want to read that back to yourself and try it again? 10mpl is 45mgp, 9mpl is 50mpg? fewer mpl makes more mpg? ;D ;D ;D
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Hey, Terry, what's the fuel prices like in NZ?
We are running around $A 1.57/litre Std unleaded
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Now if I remember rightly there are AU$500 to the £.... ;D
R
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It's gone to NZ$2.06 or something like that. Taxes on taxes. They say it's much dearer in the UK; and $0.17 in Venezuela.
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Aye GBNZ500,
Cheap in Kiwi! Just done a conversion on our £1-15/litre. 1.15 GBP = 2.98716 NZD
Diesel is the real killer here at present, being at least £0-12/litre more expensive than petrol. Most expensive diesel at present is in the Northern Isles at £1-52/litre. 1.52 GBP = 3.94895 NZD :o
That Yank Kawa two wheeled diesel thing (which many lust after) is going to have to cost very little, or run on unrefined rapeseed oil from the supermarket! ::)
Regards, 'Anorak'
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Poo! And we're feeling sorry for ourselves! It's gone up again to $2.12, but that's still way cheaper than the UK rate. And diesel here is cheaper yet.
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Muz -Traveller, riding cautiously and not revving much above 4,500 rpm, has given me 61mpg. Oddly this is a lot better than the SZR I had.
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I've put a screen on my Mastiff and riding cautiously I seem to be getting in the high 55-60mpg area, to early to be definitive but I'm watching with interest...
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Muz -Traveller, riding cautiously and not revving much above 4,500 rpm, has given me 61mpg. Oddly this is a lot better than the SZR I had.
Don't do it!!
OK but don't pull in top gears from below three thou, very bad for engine, you probably already know this :-)
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Don't do it!!
OK but don't pull in top gears from below three thou, very bad for engine, you probably already know this :-)
Its still possible to cover ground fairly quickly, even with the limited rev-range, just dont slow down much for corners.
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To get back to the thread topic....
BMW K75RT best 52mpg, worst 52mpg, avg ?
VFR750G(87) best 44mpg worst 36mpg avg 38mpg
ZRX1200S best 57mpg worst <20mpg avg 48mpg
XBR500 best 62mpg worst 54mpg avg 58mpg
500 ElectraX still early days for this one but seems to be around 85mpg
:)
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Yamaha XT660 Tenere running in, first tankfull, using rev range between 3000 and 4500 rpm, or at least trying to, 233 miles for 16.95 litres (3.72 galls) works out at 61.76 smiles per gallon. :o
PS still had 6.05 litres in reserve or 1.33 gallons which would give a further 82.19 miles, which would mean on a full tank to dry 315 miles. ;D
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So it's finally arrived then,I assume it's going to Holland.
Yesterday we went to Llanberris for lunch at Petes Eats and due to the possible fuel shortage we went on the DR800S and started out with the best of intentions by keeping 70mph as a max, using small throttle opening and keeping below 5000rpm, until we went from Ruthin to Cerrig' and met two boy racers, one in an EvoVII, the other in an Elise overtaking everything in sight. I overtook the Elise and caught the Evo, following it for a couple of miles and was surprised by the smell of unburnt fuel coming out of the exhaust pipe.....it was so fast in a straight line, I couldn't get near it, until it got held up by slower traffic and then we overtook it and the cars it was following.
The rest of the ride was uneventful and ended up covering 165miles using 15L of fuel= 50mpg with a 24L tank......two up and ten miles of full throttle bursts and up to 8000rpm overtaking the boy racers.
Ahh the joy of two wheels
Dave
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Yamaha XT660 Tenere running in, first tankfull, using rev range between 3000 and 4500 rpm, or at least trying to, 233 miles for 16.95 litres (3.72 galls) works out at 61.76 smiles per gallon. :o
PS still had 6.05 litres in reserve or 1.33 gallons which would give a further 82.19 miles, which would mean on a full tank to dry 315 miles. ;D
Steve
Now that you've got the new bike you'll have to sell the old avatar to Martyn, and replace it with something more appropriate. Are you going to post some pictures in the gallery? I'm sure there are many amongst us who would like to see the new Tenere and your thoughts on it.
Boyd
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Like this! ;D
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CB250Rs (the one I had since 1981) worst about 38mpg (mind you the tank was leaking) usually 70-75mpg.
CB250Rs the one I had since 2000, 65-68 mpg
XJ600N 55-58mpg
Can't say anything about use, the RS's would have been mostly ride to work with the odd longer run, the Xj mostly longer runs but seems more or less the same when I use it for ride to work too.
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Muz -Traveller, riding cautiously and not revving much above 4,500 rpm, has given me 61mpg. Oddly this is a lot better than the SZR I had.
Ridden harder - 51mpg, which is closer to what I used to get with the SZR
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Actually, I work funny hours, and had to placate the wife the other nite as she has been "ignored".
I decided totake her out for dinner and asked where she wanted to g. " I dont care she said, just take me somewhere expensive, so I took her to the local BP
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I admit I am still running my new bike in, but I have just done its first fill up. Things to note are the fuel gauge is there for humerous purposes rather than to tell you the fuel level. :o
122 miles
£6.30 - I paid cash, I was too embarassed to get my visa out for such a paltry sum
5.21 litres of finest unleaded
A mere 106mpg. So thats the best, worst and average mpg of my YBR125, so far.
Cant wait till its run in, so I wont get blown away by 100cc scoots :-[
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http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/470MPG/high%20mileage%20fairing.html
Hmmmmmmmm
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Mmmmm One of those on the CG...
Mind get a lot of fuel for $1400 plus delivery and fitting.
R
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What £700 ish, call it a round thousand shipped by ship ( ??? ) you might as well fit it yourself as you or I are as much an expert on them as any local bike shop you're going to find...
What'ya think from a CG125/YBR125, 150? 200mpg??
Oh and I read in the news that crude has just hit another record high price per barrel.... :-\
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Yup - I was wondering about side winds... :-\
R
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Latest figures for my YBR are in. 2nd fill up and
163 miles
6.56 litres
= 113 mpg!
It is very boring running in a bike when you dont have time to just go for a ride.......and all you do is commute to work (except when you are working from home).
Just had a look at the manual and it says its got a 13l tank. So, that petrol gauge is rubbish. It was just on the red and it took 6.56l to fill up. So I could go for 300 miles on a tank...wow!
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Me again. Looks like I'm the only one putting petrol in the bike. Just done its third fillup and the mileage works out at 123.1 mpg. Consumption getting better, and I am thrashing it more.
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We're just quiet because we're jealous ;) Mastiff is still getting a consistent 50-55mpg on the daily grind.
I'm going to miss biking over this winter :-\ (bizarre I know! :o)
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sues little honda cub 90 returns a consistent 130-150 mpg, regardless of where or how she rides it. im so impressed by its frugality, that ive got myself one, a 1975 model with 9k on the clock, and we plan to use this brace of cubs to tour the west coast and highlands of scotland on next spring. should be a hoot, and cheap too!!
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Aye johnr,
We hope the plans go well and the weather is favourable. If you would like info or assist, drop me a line and will see what can be done.
May be slow until end of October for a reply, as I'm harassed until then with work etc.
My regards, Bill.
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XBR500 49-53 m.p.g. Mostly town work.
FS1E 100+m.p.g fully laden with camping gear from Bilbao to Caen. Just under 8 gallons for 801 miles, cheap touring :)
Cheers, Guy.
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Ok, I did a trek up to Brum and Back over the weekend. This isn't deadly accurate but...
130miles (up there)
7.5 litres (filled up on leaving friday night, and put in this volume on sunday morning before going back)
=17.3 miles per litre
=78 mpg???
surely not! on a rather tired DR650. Ridden 2 up?!
Fog rather curbed the use of the "loud handle", down to 40-50 mph for about 40 miles which may have squewed the figures somewhat... I also noticed the speedo was reading a bit fast too...
So there you go! It just shows you... nothing! (at least petrols a bit cheaper now)
a
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My 98 BMW F650 Funduro (carbs) averages around 60-65mpg on long trips with panniers, tank bag and box all full of camping gear etc. Last year in the Highlands and Outer Hebrides it made a heck of a difference if there was a strong headwind or it was very hilly and/or twisty (anybody else been to Harris? Presumably it's like that on the moon.) On main roads I cruise in old gent fashion at around 65mph and get maybe 70mpg. I had an injection version on loan for a while and that was even better.
Martin
PS: What's this about water pumps? Is mine going to go any minute? And talking of other costs, two new tyres, rebuild the monoshock linkage (so many needle rollers!), two new discs, pads and oil/filter/brake fluid left little change from 500 quid. I've decided I'd rather have twin shocks any day... But it does do well on fuel.